Baltic Programmes

INTERREG Baltic Sea Region Programme

EU funding Programme that facilitates transnational cooperation in the region. Partners from countries around the Baltic Sea work together in transnational projects to address common key challenges and opportunities. The funding is mainly directed at public authorities, research and training institutions, NGOs, sectoral agencies & associations and enterprises.

INTERREG Central Baltic Programme

The INTERREG Central Baltic Programme 2014-2020 is a funding programme financing cross-border cooperation projects in the central Baltic Sea region. The participating countries are Finland (incl. Åland), Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. The programme supports four priorities: Competitive economy, Sustainable use of common resources, Well-connected region and Skilled and socially inclusive region.
Altogether 115 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is made available through the programme. The funding is available for cross-border cooperation projects where partners from at least two countries are cooperating under one of the four programme priorities.

INTERREG South Baltic Programme

The Interreg South Baltic Programme is a funding instrument that seeks to activate the potential for blue and green growth through cross-border cooperation between local and regional actors. “Blue growth” addresses the economic potential of the Baltic Sea and its coastal regions for sustainable growth and jobs, to be developed in harmony with the marine environment and through cross-border cooperation. “Green growth” is a term to describe a path of economic growth that utilises natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The next call for proposals of the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014-2020 was open between1 October and 18 December 2018.

EUSBSR Seed Money Facility

Seed money is EU funding to prepare projects that contribute to one of the priority areas or horizontal actions of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.
Partners that receive seed money funding will draft a project plan that can be further developed into an application to any of the EU or national funding sources e.g. the European Structural & Investment Funds programmes 2014-2020. The plan has to include a description of activities and outputs, the composition of the partnership, the indicative budget and an analysis of funding possibilities. If the future project is to be focused on investments, also feasibility and pre-investment studies can be financed. Additionally, the partners are expected to cooperate with the responsible Priority Area Coordinators and Horizontal Action Leaders of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

CBSS Project Support Facility (PSF)

The CBSS Project Support Facility (PSF) was created at the 9th Baltic Sea States Summit in Stralsund, Germany, on 30 – 31 May 2012. During the first PSF period (2013-2015, with additional funding based on voluntary contributions of the CBSS Member States in 2016) 23 projects were funded.

The main purpose of the CBSS PSF is to co-finance the development and implementation of Baltic Sea Region (BSR) cooperation projects contributing to CBSS long-term priorities, bringing added value for the Baltic Sea Region, showing impact in regional cooperation and fostering sustainable partnerships. The total amount of the CBSS PSF for three years is one million euro.

The CBSS PSF is an instrument to finance project preparation and implementation, in relation to the 3 long-term priority areas of the CBSS:

Regional Identity, aiming to develop and foster the concept of Baltic Sea Region identity and a sense of belonging to the Baltic Sea Region through engagement, dialogue, people-to-people contacts, macroregional networks and multilevel governance.

Sustainable and Prosperous Region, working towards developing the Baltic Sea Region as a model region of sustainable societies able to manage and use resources efficiently, and to tap the economic, technological, ecological & social innovation potential of the region, in order to ensure its prosperity, environmental protection and social cohesion.

Safe & Secure Region, with the goal to enhance societal security and safety in the Baltic Sea Region and to ensure that people of the Region are protected from and resilient to violence, accidents and emergencies through preparedness, and safeguarded against harm caused by criminal exploitation and human trafficking.

INTERREG Botnia-Atlantica

The Botnia-Atlantica programme is a cross-border cooperation programme intended to co-fund projects within the Botnia-Atlantica area. The programme is one of several European territorial Cooperation programmes, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
The programme covers a larger area than the Kvarken-MittSkandia programmes. The area includes the regions Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia and Satakunta in Finland, Västerbotten and Västernorrland as well as the municipality of Nordanstig in Sweden and the Nordland region in Norway. The regions Southern Ostrobothnia in Finland and Gävleborg (except Nordanstig) in Sweden participate as adjacent areas in the programme.

INTERREG NORD

Interreg V A Nord is a EU-program supporting cross-border cooperation in order to strengthen the economic and social development. Areas included in the program are north Norway, north Finland, north Sweden and Sápmi (which spreads over all three countries).

The overall goal for the current program is to strengthen the competitiveness and attractiveness of the program area. To accomplish this, the region needs to be developed in an economic, social and environmental sustainable way. It is desirable that the cross-border cooperation takes place between all three countries, Norway, Sweden and Finland, as far as possible, and that they aim to identify common challenges and opportunities.

Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme

The Northern Periphery and Arctic 2014-2020 forms a cooperation between 9 programme partner countries. The NPA 2014-2020 is part of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and ERDF equivalent funding from non EU partner countries. 4 priority axes to achieve the programme vision:
- Using Innovation to Maintain And Develop Robust And Competitive Communities
- Promoting Entrepreneurship to Realise the Potential of the Programme Area’s Competitive Advantage
- Fostering Energy-Secure Communities through Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
- Protecting, Promoting and Developing Cultural and Natural Heritage

Swedish Institute Seed Money

The Swedish Institute seeks to strengthen Sweden’s relations and develop cooperation with the countries around the Baltic Sea and in our immediate area. Swedish organisations can apply for funding from the Swedish Institute in order to cooperate with organisations in the Baltic Sea Region countries and organisations in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries. The project activities that the Swedish Institute supports via ‘seed funding’ must be clearly linked to one or more of the challenges identified in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Projects encompassing countries in the EU Eastern Partnership must also relate to this framework. Furthermore, projects should help create conditions for long-term, sustainable relations in the region.

Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy

The ICLD’s overall objective is to promote the development of sustainable democracy on the local and regional levels. A municipal partnership shall contribute to increased citizen influence by strengthening local and regional politically controlled organisations within one (or if relevant, some) of the following core areas:
• Equity/inclusion

• Citizen participation

• Transparency

• Possibility to demand accountability

Municipal Partnership is a form of cooperation financed by Sida that is designed to contribute to municipal and regional operations in high-priority partnership countries in the form of result-oriented projects. There must also be a mutual interest in partnership in which Swedish municipalities, county councils and regions clearly benefit from the projects implemented.

Lithuania–Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014–2020

The Lithuania–Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014–2020 has been developed within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Instrument and is being co-financed by the European Union and the Russian Federation. The Programme will promote and broaden the cross-border cooperation (hereinafter – CBC) between the border regions of Lithuania and Russia, which so far has been pursued under the 2004–2006 TACIS Neighbourhood Programme Lithuania–Poland–Russia and 2007–2013 European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument CBC Programme Lithuania–Poland–Russia.

The Programme will address four priorities within the selected thematic objectives:

TO3: Promotion of local culture and preservation of historical heritage. Priority: Restoration and adaptation of historical and natural heritage, promotion of culture, cultural networking and tourism development;

TO4: Promotion of social inclusion and fight against poverty. Priority: Promotion of social inclusion and cooperation in CBC region through improved health, social and education services and community led initiatives;

TO5: Support to local and regional good governance. Priority: Promotion of cooperation between public authority institutions and strengthening local communities;

The selected thematic objectives and priorities of the Programme will directly contribute to the overall objective of progress towards an area of shared prosperity and good neighbourliness between Lithuania and Russia.

Joint Operational Programme Poland-Russia 2014-2020

The main objective of the Poland-Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 is to support cross-border cooperation in the social, environmental, economic and institutional sphere.

Partnership
Within the Poland-Russia CBC Programme support can be obtained by applicants, who are legal persons established in the Programme area or by the international organizations with a base of operations in the Programme area. The European grouping of territorial cooperation may be beneficiary, regardless its place of establishment, provided that its geographic coverage is within the Programme area. Each project shall involve at least two beneficiaries: 1 from Poland and 1 from Russian Federation.

Programme budget

The total Programme co-financig amounts to 62 298 477 EUR. The financial allocation consisting of the European Regional Development Fund (20 652 617 EUR), European Neighbourhood Instrument (20 993 243 EUR) and Russian Federation contribution to the Programme (20 652 617 EUR). No grant may exceed 90% of the total eligible costs of the project.

Programme Priorities

The Poland-Russia Cross-border Cooperation Programme 2014-2020 has set four priorities that reflect the selected Thematic Objectives of the Programme:

Cooperating on historical, natural and cultural heritage for their preservation and cross-border development.

Cooperation for the clean natural environment in the cross-border area.